The Writer and The Photographer: Passion

Chapter 20: "D Write Way!

The woman I know is so far above that now that she didn't even touch the ground. My god, woman! You had those kids by their nose hairs yesterday! And Jo? Saved that kid from the Dark Side, bet ya anything!"

Bea looked across at Louisse and thought about what she had just heard. "So, if I may paraphrase," she began, much to Louisse's relief, "my life back then isn't as important to me now as I think it is. Therefore, saying 'fuck you' to everybody wouldn't mean as much to me as I thought it would."

"Yes!" Louisse exclaimed. "Exactly!" She paused and her face wrinkled in confusion. "I think."

"Well why didn't you just say so?" Bea asked in mock exasperation.

Louisse stared at her girlfriend before letting out a deep sigh. "I need a drink," but instead Bea kissed her and for a long while, neither said anything.

"Do you think it would be supercilious for me to open up a workshop/retreat type thing?" Bea asked somewhere high above the Arctic Circle.

"I don't know," Louisse replied sleepily. "Depends what supercilious means."

Bea laughed. "Too big for my boots. Trying to use a sepia effect on a picture of poo."

"Ew," Louisse wrinkled her face in disgust. "That wouldn't be supercilious, that would just be gross. And why shouldn't you open something like that?

You know how to inspire people better than anyone else I've ever known. Could give kids an alternative and a helping hand. You could even get a few publishing houses involved. And counsellors. They could do like a literary therapy thing."

"Could you help some of them with photography?" Bea asked.

"Sure, if they wanted it. I'm qualified enough," Louisse nodded.

"We couldn't give out certificates or anything, though. But maybe they'd learn enough that it wouldn't matter."

"They could get Certificates of Completion and I bet if you talked to some of your contacts they could arrange some kind of bonus. An agent to review their work for free or something like that." Louisse turned to Bea and rubbed sleep out of her eyes. "I like this, Babe. I think it's a great idea!"

"My last check from Hollywood would pay for that piece of land we were looking at out by Moose. Hell, there's enough left from the first one for us to put a house on it, too."

"I feel a call to Ismael coming on," Louisse grinned, referring to their financial advisor.

"Anthologies," Bea said suddenly. "That would be worth whatever we had to charge. We could sign a contract to produce enough work for two or three anthologies a year. Vary the genres and we're talking bread and butter for some of the smaller Houses."

"Nice!" Louisse acknowledged. "Very nice. But there has to be a down side. What is it?"

"Um," Bea thought. "We'd have to watch the small print in the contracts in case some of the kids suck the big one. Security?"

Louisse shook her head. "Not a problem. We wouldn't claim to have a secure compound. Hire a private security firm to do some drive-by."

"Accommodation? We would need a lot of buildings and we would have to separate male and female."

"No we wouldn't," Louisse dismissed. "Separate rooms all round. No one under sixteen in case of young romance attacks. Getting building permits and approval is probably going to be our worst problem," Louisse admitted. "They have so many rules about sewage these days."

"Yeah, they do. Only I have a father who can still run rings around any planning department you want to mention," Bea grinned, imagining the excitement on her father's face when he heard about the idea.

"My darling, you are a very clever woman," Louisse grinned, rubbing her hands together in excitement. "Oh, this is gonna be fun! Better than TCC even, and that rocked!" She glanced across at Bea and took her hand in her own. "Where did this idea come from? It's the first I've heard of it."

Bea shrugged. "Something Jo said, I guess. Her aunt was one of the worst bullies at that school and I was in her crosshairs every day. But she said something to me once that I never forgot. She told me to go back to where I came from.

I remember thinking that of all the things I had heard, that was the cruellest one because I couldn't go back. I didn't have anywhere I could go anymore. That's when I started retreating into my head. I would have loved to have had the support we can give someone. This way maybe some kids can find a healthy place to go when the world gets too rough."

Louisse smiled and slowly began to laugh. "What's so funny?" Bea asked.

"Oh baby, I just thought of the perfect name for the place. And I think we should give Jo a free ticket when we get it going, if only so her aunt can see what you're doing. Kind of like a very polite and subtle "fuck you, stupid.'"

"Okay," Bea chuckled. "Sounds good so far. What're we calling it?"

"D Write Way."